How the Tundra was Saved
by Pobodys Nerfekt
Summary: In which Weiss introduces her girlfriends to an old friend of hers from back home while out on a date in the woods. Modern AU with faunus (Merry Christmas Murphy)


**I wrote this as a little christmas gift for Murphy (faunusrights on tumblr) and the velvet server on discord they run as a whole. My next upload will probably be more battletech stuff, but for now, enjoy the frappucino I made for y'all.**

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"You know when I heard you tell us you wanted to have a picnic in the woods, I imagined that we would be at the edge of the treeline and not deeper than those 'woke' posts people make online." Blake said, making note of her surroundings.

"No offense but I'm kinda on the same page as Blake," Velvet agreed, however before she continued, Weiss swiftly stated that her next line was going to be "we never really pegged you as an outdoorsy type of person."

"We never really pegged you as an outdoorsy type of person." Velvet stated as Weiss predicted, before going through seven different emotions in five seconds, settling on a pout. Weiss glanced backwards with a smug look on her face before starting to laugh at Velvet's face.

"Something tells me you should probably cut back on the anime sessions with Ruby and Yang." Blake told Weiss with a smile on her face.

"I'll take it under advisement," Weiss responded before turning back around to focus on the trail the three are walking on "but for now we continue forward. The spot I have should be just up ahead." Taking point, Weiss led her two companions deeper into the forest, with Velvet in the middle holding the bag of food they made in preparation and Blake bringing up the rear keeping an eye out for anything suspicious. Eventually, Weiss announced to the group that they had arrived at their destination: a decently-sized clearing in the trees with various types of plant life around and a river with crystal clear water flowing through the land at the far end of the clearing. Entering the clearing almost made the sounds of the unseen wildlife quieter, as if the area had some kind of special properties. After taking in the sights, Weiss turned around to find that her girlfriends had been rendered speechless, greatly amusing the white-haired girl.

"So how in the world did you find this place anyway?" Blake asked, shaking the stupor off of herself quicker than Velvet did. However before Weiss could give an answer, they were interrupted by a crow's call that sounded surprisingly close. The trio in the clearing searched for the source before Blake pointed to a branch over the river. Sitting on that branch was the crow in question, but instead of the usual black color of crows, this one was almost pure white with red eyes that were staring intently at the party of three in this neck of the woods, primarily Weiss.

"I'm not the only one looking at a literal albino crow right now right?" Velvet asked the group with a sense of confusion. Blake made a hum of confirmation, but there was no response from Weiss, who upon closer inspection looked surprisingly happy to see the crow. Without responding to Velvet's question, Weiss held out an arm, almost beckoning the creature above the river to come to her. Further surprising Velvet and Blake, the bird actually took off from its branch towards Weiss like it was following an unspoken command, quickly flying over and perching itself upon Weiss' arm. From there Weiss brought the crow close to her and started running her hand across its head, cooing to it affectionately while the crow leaned into her touch, sounding rather happy about its current situation. Off to the side, Blake and Velvet were absolutely stunned at what they were witnessing, the image before them clashing heavily with what they previously believed.

"Alright so I have more than a few questions about... all of this." Velvet stated, gesturing vaguely to Weiss and the crow she held.

"Fair enough I suppose." Weiss answered. "Let's get all of our things set up and I will tell you the story of how I met my friend here." On that note, Velvet set the bag she was holding down and started taking out all of the supplies the trio brought on their journey into the forest. First a blanket was set out so that they wouldn't be sitting on the dirt, then came the various foods that were packed in preparation for this outing, and ending with an umbrella that could be planted in the event that shade was a necessity, but the surrounding trees covered that issue, so the umbrella was set aside. As everything was unpacked, Weiss picked up a handful of trail mix from a container they brought and held it up to the crow, who gladly started picking out of Weiss' hand.

"Well I suppose we should start with introductions. Velvet, Blake, this is Tundra." Weiss started, gesturing to the albino crow by her side eating trail mix from her hand. "He was the one who showed me this location we currently stand and could be considered one of my oldest and closest friends." she continued, running a finger down the back of the bird.

"Ya know now that I've gotten over the 'that is an albino crow and holy shit Weiss and the bird know each other and now they are having a heartfelt reunion moment what in the world is going on' phase of my life, he is actually pretty cute." Velvet said before glancing over at Blake, who was eyeballing the bird with some kind of strong intent. In response, Velvet tapped Blake's shoulder to get her attention before shaking her head.

"I was not thinking about doing what you think I was thinking about doing." Blake said, almost immediately going onto the defensive.

"Okay." Velvet answered plainly, giving Blake a look that expressed her disbelief. "Well regardless of Blake, I guess this whole thing does beg a very big question." Weiss looked up from giving Tundra physical affection and gestured for the rabbit faunus to go on. "How exactly did you two meet?"

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"I'm glad you asked because that was part of the reason I brought you two out here," Weiss began. "So I suppose I will start from the beginning. I hope neither of you two plan on going anywhere because this is a bit of a long story." Thus begins the tale of how Weiss met Tundra the albino crow.

_The younger Weiss of several years ago was outside near the treeline to the forest on the property of the Schnee manor when she heard it. She was relaxing in one of her favorite spots on the manor grounds in an attempt to take her mind off the worries that she had due to some upcoming tests from her tutors when this attempt was interrupted by the cry of an animal, but this was not a normal noise for an animal to be making. Instead it sounded more akin to that of a cry of pain, which spurred Weiss into action, foregoing the caution that she likely would have had under normal circumstances. Going as quickly as her legs could carry her, it was not long before young Weiss came upon the source of the noise: a wounded bird being glared at by a fox, who no doubt sought to make the bird its next meal, something Weiss was not planning on having any of under her watch._

_Taking up a nearby stick, Weiss sprung into action, going after the fox who, wisely, retreated from the wood-wielding girl and slunk back into the forest. That was phase one of Weiss' plan completed. Now onto phase two: helping the injured creature at her feet as best she could._

"Wait back up a second," Velvet interrupted. "You're telling me you threw hands with a fox and managed to win?"

"I'm certain that is what I am saying yes." Weiss answered, slightly annoyed at being cut off, but letting it slide when she saw the impressed look on Velvet's face. Looking at Blake to see if she had anything to say, the cat faunus shook her head and motioned for Weiss to continue her story, so continue she did.

_The bird, the species Weiss could not name off the top of her head, was not as injured as she believed it was previously, sporting only a couple of bite wounds that, with proper medical attention, could be healed fairly quickly. Unfortunately for Weiss, first aid for animals was not one of the things her father was having her learn, which left her with the objective of taking the animal to someone who could. Her two options were either her older sister Winter or her close friend and butler Klein, both of which would likely have the necessary skills to treat the bird before her, who was watching her with a close eye in case she tried anything. In the end, she decided to bring this matter to Winter because, while she no doubt believed Klein would be able to help to a similar degree, she did not want father finding out for obvious reasons and she didn't want to take the risk with the staff (no offense to Klein of course)._

_As it turns out, trying to pick up an injured bird was a little more difficult than Weiss had anticipated, as it had attempted to bite her hands when she went to pick it up, despite the reassurances she gave it that she was not going to hurt it. Eventually she managed to convince the bird to let her help through pure perseverance and gently lifted the creature into her arms, leaving the comments about how nice its feathers felt for later. The easy part for this plan was getting to Winter, as she was home thanks to a school break, but this part was made much more complicated when Weiss remembered she had to sneak her way past the various servants that roamed the manor. She knew Klein wouldn't say a word if he saw her, but she likely would not be so lucky if any of the other servants caught her in the act._

"I can't imagine it was easy for you to sneak around your house in heels." It was Blake this time who commented on the story.

"Well that is why there is this wonderful thing called 'removing your shoes and storing them in a secure location before executing your stealth mission.'" Weiss responded with a tinge of sarcasm, causing Blake to chuckle a bit. Even Velvet made an amused noise at that response. "It also helps that I knew the inside of the manor like I designed it. I may not have been taught how to be stealthy at that age, but I was taught to be observant and attentive, and I made sure to put that to good use." Tundra cawed to get Weiss' attention and made a gesture with its wings that neither Blake nor Velvet could place, but it became apparent what it was when Weiss rolled her eyes in a non-serious manner and picked up the bird so that he could sit in her lap while muttering something about how much of a handful he was. Weiss looked back up to find both of her girlfriends giving her a teasing look, which caused Weiss to blush with a degree of embarrassment.

"Lets continue on shall we?" Weiss stated, silently congratulating herself on not stuttering and preparing for the next part of her story.

_It took a little longer than Weiss would have liked and a couple close calls that she could have really done without, but she managed to make it to her sister's room undetected. At this point, there was not much blood coming from the wounds on the bird, which Weiss took to be a good sign. Upon hearing a knock on her door, Winter opened it to find her younger sister Weiss before her with a bird in her arms._

"_I found him about to be eaten by a mean fox and I wanted to help, so I managed to rescue him but I then remembered that I didn't have the proper gear to really help so I came to you." Weiss explained upon seeing Winter's baffled look. Motioning for Weiss to come inside before closing to door behind her, identifying the injured animal in her arms as a crow with a case of albinism._

"_Is that a bad thing?" Weiss asked, worried for the animal's well being._

"_It is not necessarily a bad thing," Winter began explaining to Weiss. "the albinism is what makes this bird as white as it is. Normal crows would have black feathers on them, as opposed to the white plumage of our friend here." Knowing that this once unknown condition would not be a detriment to her new friend, Weiss let out a sigh of relief, which she almost felt like taking back when she recalled the wounds on the crow she found. As if reading Weiss' mind, Winter cut her off before she could say anything._

"_Before you ask, yes he should be able to fly again with some proper care. Lucky for you the wounds are not too deep, so we should be able to fix your friend up fairly quickly and, with any luck, he will be able to fly again before long."_

"After we did some amateur veterinary procedures and gave him some food, we managed to get his wings back in working order and he returned to the forest without any fuss." Weiss said, concluding her story before looking down and finding Tundra asleep, not surprising the white-haired girl in the slightest and putting a smile on her face.

"So would I be right in assuming nobody told you just how intelligent crows can be and the possibilities of imprinting?" Blake asked with a hint of a grin starting to form.

"You would be correct in that assumption miss Belladonna." Weiss answered, rubbing her forehead in response to the memory that question gave her. "Imagine my shock when this one flies in out of nowhere next to me when I return outside again after a few days looking for food from me."

"Of course you provided but that probably isn't the point you are getting at here." Velvet said, highly amused by this line of conversation. "So what then? Tundra comes to find you whenever you go outside and the rest is history or something along those lines?"

"That is the general summary of it yes aside from the couple of other incidents I might tell you about in the future." Weiss responded. Blake put aside a drink she held and looked over at Velvet, who shared the look that Blake had for a moment before the two faunus looked back towards Weiss and gave her a simultaneous response.

"Wack."

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**Before you ask, yes. There was a JoJo reference in there.**


End file.
